History Trivia / Goosebumps

* PosthumousCredit: Michelle Risi, who played Becca in the ''Teacher's Pet'' episode, succumbed to meningitis in December 1997 and is given a credit for her work.

* ContestWinnerCameo: In 2018, Stine held an auction in which the highest bidder would get to name a character in an upcoming book. The winner ended up being Gates Warwas in ''It's Alive! It's Alive!''.

* DuelingShows: With ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark''. Incidentally, both were filmed in Canada, although in different areas. While both are remembered for being good scary shows for children of the 1990s, ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' had better writing and acting than the TV adaptation of ''Goosebumps''.
** Funnily enough, there were quite a few actors who popped up on both shows.

* InMemoriam: ''Teacher's Pet'' was dedicated to Michelle Rissi, the actress who played Becca in the episode. She passed away from Meningitis before the episode aired, [[TearJerker at the age of only sixteen]].

* ProductionPosse: Many child voice actors from ''Literature/TheMagicSchoolBus'' TV series were featured in this show. Most notable are Amos Crawley (Arnold in the first season), Erica Luttrell (Keesha), Daniel [=DeSanto=] (Carlos), Stuart Stone (Ralphie) and Renessa Blitz (Janet.) Both ''The Magic School Bus'' and ''Goosebumps'' are properties of Scholastic Inc.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The short story ''The Thumbprint of Doom'' [[https://web.archive.org/web/19980504163519/http://thebumps.com/recent1e.htm almost]] got an episode, but [[Creator/NealShusterman the writer]] choose to do ''Awesome Ants'' instead.
** The series was almost animated but [[https://conventionalrelations.net/2020/08/20/an-oral-history-of-goosebumps-the-television-series/ prouder Steve Levitan]] wanted it to be live action, which R.L. Stine was more up for.

** In 1994, an official "Name a Goosebumps Book" contest sponsored by Scholastic was held, allowing for grade-schoolers to suggest the title for an upcoming book to be released around summer 1995. Over 1,600 titles were submitted, and there ended up being a winner announced on Halloween of that year -- ''Slime Doesn't Pay'', suggested by 11-year old Jimmy S. of Glencoe, Illinois. [[DevelopmentHell Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the book never actually came to be]].

* TheOtherDarrin:
** The main cast of ''Say Cheese and Die'' was replaced for the sequel episode.

* NamesTheSame: Slappy shouldn't be confused for [[WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}} that other Slappy who starred in metafictional Looney Tunes shorts in her youth]].
** The Series 2000 books ''Jekyll and Heidi'' and ''The Werewolf in the Living Room'' both have a character named Aaron Fredius.
** The second Horrorland Arc and the ''Most Wanted'' book ''A Nightmare on Clown Street'' have a clown named Murder.
** Sarah Maas, the protagonist of ''The Curse of Camp Cold Lake'' should not be confused with Creator/SarahJMaas

* ProductionPosse: Many child voice actors from ''Literature/TheMagicSchoolBus'' TV series were featured in this show. Most notable are Amos Crawley (Arnold in the first season), Erica Luttrell (Keesha), Daniel DeSanto (Carlos), Stuart Stone (Ralphie) and Renessa Blitz (Janet.) Both ''The Magic School Bus'' and ''Goosebumps'' are properties of Scholastic Inc.

** ''Full Moon Fever'' borrows most of its plot from ''Chicken Chicken'' -- the protagonists, one boy and one girl, tick off an old lady and subsequently find themselves [[ForcedTransformation transformed into animals.]] It also resembles a short story, "Pumpkin Juice" (from ''Still More Tales to Give You Goosebumps''), where the protagonists turn into hungry werewolves after ingesting a strange food. It also resembles the short story "Marshmellow Surprise" (from ''More & More & More Tales to Give You Goosebumps''), where some kids are cursed by a treat given to a mean neighbor pretending to be nice. Troy Steele of ''{{Blog/Blogger Beware}}'' even calls it in his review ''Chicken Chicken'' + ''The Werewolf in the Living Room''.

** ''Full Moon Fever'' borrows most of its plot from ''Chicken Chicken'' -- the protagonists, one boy and one girl, tick off an old lady and subsequently find themselves [[BalefulPolymorph transformed into animals.]] It also resembles a short story, "Pumpkin Juice" (from ''Still More Tales to Give You Goosebumps''), where the protagonists turn into hungry werewolves after ingesting a strange food. It also resembles the short story "Marshmellow Surprise" (from ''More & More & More Tales to Give You Goosebumps''), where some kids are cursed by a treat given to a mean neighbor pretending to be nice. Troy Steele of ''{{Blog/Blogger Beware}}'' even calls it in his review ''Chicken Chicken'' + ''The Werewolf in the Living Room''.

** For the series, effects artist Ron Stefanuik voiced Slappy for the adaptation of ''Night of the Living Dummy II'', only to be replaced by Cal Dodd for the ''Night of the Living Dummy III'' two-parter, then returned to the role for ''Bride of the Living Dummy''.

* TheOtherDarrin: For the series, effects artist Ron Stefanuik voiced Slappy for the adaptation of ''Night of the Living Dummy II'', only to be replaced by Cal Dodd for the ''Night of the Living Dummy III'' two-parter, then returned to the role for ''Bride of the Living Dummy''.

* CashCowFranchise: The ''only'' children's book series that has sold more units than ''Literature/HarryPotter''.

* BannedEpisode: When the series was aired in the UK by the BBC in the late nineties and early noughties, nine episodes were not shown, almost certainly due to concerns over content, including the "Haunted Mask" series, the "Night of the Living Dummy" series, and "Strained Peas".

* TroubledProduction: ''Werewolf Skin'' had one. [[https://twitter.com/Spongey445/status/1380352047858470920/photo/1 First off]], it started production before the book was even finished so there wasn't a lot to go off off. Billy Brown and Dan angel's script for it was seen as "unfilmable" due to having a lot of locations and stunts, as well as scenes considered too dark such as a werewolf biting a deer. After many arguments with the network, Billy and Dan left the show and Ron Oliver was brought in to rewrite the script. Even after that, the network had Oliver trim down the scarier parts of his first cut.

!! These books [[ImageSource provide the page image]] for:

* AmusementParkOfDoom
* EvilMask

** ''Escape From Horror House'': 'They're After You''

* NoExportForYou:
** Some of the books from the original series were translated into Swedish, but no other ''Goosebumps'' book has ever been released in Sweden.
** Only ten of the books were translated into Japanese, and were completely OutOfOrder from the series' original run.

* CaliforniaDoubling: The TV series presumably took place in the States (explicitly stated in a few episodes), but was mostly filmed in Canada.

** The original cover concept for ''Fright Camp'' was a terrified camper [[ElectricTorture strapped into an electric chair hooked up to Farraday's "Fear Meter."]] This was changed because [[{{Bowdlerize}} the editors feared it would be too intense for the cover of a pre-teen book.]]

!!Trivia for the 2015 film
* ActorAllusion:
** The scene with the gnomes tying up Stine is reminiscent of the iconic scene from ''Literature/GulliversTravels'', which Creator/JackBlack starred in [[Film/GulliversTravels2010 an adaptation]] of in 2010.
** Also, Jack Black's character really likes [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDdhirAb0Wo bear traps.]]
* AscendedFanon: A promotional booklet released for the 2015 film (which mostly consists of Slappy taunting his new slave, [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou the reader]]) was actually the first official material to confirm that "Karru Marri Odonna Loma Molonu Karrano" (the incantation that brings Slappy to life) translates to "You and I are one now" in English, which the fandom had been using for almost twenty years based on a popular interpretation of a line from the tv series' version of "Night of the Living Dummy II." This might be Jossed however, as ''The Ghost of Slappy'' reveals Slappy doesn't know what the words mean. This comes from an official entry while the booklet was merely for promotion and was not written by Stine.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Takes place in the Delaware town of Madison, but was shot in the Georgia city of Atlanta.
* CastingGag: Many of the people playing the ghouls/zombies are revisiting their roles from ''Series/TheWalkingDead''.
* CowboyBeBopAtHisComputer: The Monster Survival Guide refers to the swamp monster from ''How to kill a Monster'' as a mud monster from ''You Can't Scare Me!''
* DeletedScenes: A bunch appear on the Blu-Ray:
** An alternate opening showing Stine moving from his previous home in the middle of the night. The scene was actually used as the prologue of the prequel video game.
** Zack's first day of school, where he gets on a football player's bad side (the same player [[spoiler:is the boyfriend of Champ's love interest and bails on her when encountering the werewolf]]) and meets Champ.
** A brief confrontation between Zack and his mother after the police visit at Stine's home over moving to Madison.
** Stine's visit to the police station, where he finds out Zack prank called him.
** Aunt Lorraine finding out Zack has gone from his room before finding Fifi on the doorstep.
** A brief exchange in the Wagoneer between Zack and Hannah about attending the dance, before OverprotectiveDad Stine shoots it down (the scene also includes several ad-libbed versions of Stine's response).
** [[spoiler: After the JerkJock football player bails on his girlfriend, he receives a bout of LaserGuidedKarma in the form of the Abonimable Snowman of Pasadena.]]
** [[spoiler:An alternate ending. Instead of Hannah being rewritten into reality, a ReplacementGoldfish named Anna asks Zack where her classroom is. After finding out she's not a monster, he goes to help her. The rest of the ending plays out as normal, only except when Stine passes the typewriter, the title typed is Slappy's Revenge. Slappy appears behind Stine as Stine screams into the camera.]]
* DevelopmentHell: The Goosebumps movie was hinted at waaay back in the year 1997 when the series was at the height of its popularity but apparently had trouble getting financial backing at the time (Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox was going through a turbulent time at the turn of the century; indeed, Creator/FoxKids got shut down in 2002, but for mainly unrelated reasons). The movie wound up shelved when the TV series was cancelled and the waning of interest in the series. It wouldn't be until 17 years later that they finally got it off the ground.
* InkSuitActor: Slappy in the movie is designed to bear a closer resemblance to his voice actor Jack Black. This also plays into the fact that Slappy is portrayed as a ShadowArchetype for R.L. Stine (also played by Black).
* IKnewIt: Anyone familiar with the Goosebumps probably saw TheReveal about Hannah coming a mile away, given that [[spoiler: she shares her name with the protagonist of ''The Ghost Next Door''.]]
* NamesTheSame: Hannah, the movie's deuteragonist, has the name of the [[spoiler:titular]] protagonist from ''The Ghost Next Door''. [[spoiler:This turns out to be a subversion, and a very big clue as to Hannah's true nature -- they're the same character.]]
* TheOtherDarrin: The role for Slappy in the films went from Jack Black in the first to Creator/MickWingert in ''[[Film/Goosebumps2HauntedHalloween Haunted Halloween]]'' (and before then, it was reported that Avery Jones, the man who puppeteers Slappy, would also provide the voice for the sequel).
* PlayingAgainstType:
** Jack Black, normally known for playing irreverent, idiotic goofballs, instead plays the ever-serious, grumpy, intelligent R.L. Stine.
** Dylan Minnette usually plays awkward or nerdy guys. Playing TheHero like Zack is quite different for him.
* RealLifeRelative: Not among the main cast, but for the several extras playing monsters, the actors portraying the [[Literature/StayOutOfTheBasement swamp creature]] and the [[Literature/EscapeFromTheCarnivalOfHorrors Snake Lady]] are married in real life. Let that sink in for a moment....
* TalkingToHimself: In the movie, Jack Black voices Slappy as well. Played with in one scene that features a JuxtaposedHalvesShot of them.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Back in the 1990s, Creator/GeorgeARomero wrote a [[https://horrorstudies.library.pitt.edu/content/george-romeros-goosebumps script]] for a ''Goosebumps'' film that would have adapted ''Literature/WelcomeToDeadHouse.'' The eponymous house would have been reimagined as a SapientHouse that is possessed by Foster Devries, the factory owner who was responsible for the chemical leak that killed everyone in the company town of Dark Falls. He would have brought all of his workers back as undead slaves who he has bring him live victims to feed on and turn into new undead residents of Dark Falls.

* {{Tuckerization}}: Stine says he would often take his characters name from his son's school yearbook.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** Many of the books have technology (or lack thereof) on display that solidifies them as taking place in TheNineties.
** Combined with ValuesDissonance: the books were written in TheNineties, when bullying wasn't taken as seriously. As such the protagonists are often bullied severely (including ''physical beatings'') with no one to help them, often resulting in them having to resort to the paranormal thing/character of the month to help them fight back. Nowadays they could probably just tell a teacher or the like as bullying is (fortunately) [[SocietyMarchesOn taken much more seriously now.]] As noted under {{Bowdlerize}} on the main page, some of original books also feature moments that can be seen as a awkward to women and minority groups which probably wouldn't have raised too many eyebrows in the '90s but that, to Stine and/or Scholastic's credit, have been revised in reissues, and are less prevalent in the post revival books.
** Because it deals with TimeTravel, ''The Cuckoo Clock of Doom'' is perhaps the most dated book in the series and has the dates mentioned inside updated whenever it's reprinted. In particular, Tara's birth year has changed from 1988 (the 1995 original printing) to 1996 (the 2003 reprint) to 2008 (the 2015 reprint) to 2013 (the 2020 reprint). The year the dial on the clock stops at and the year the shopkeeper thinks the world is going to end are updated as well.